History[edit]

Demonstration of the Michelin so called car-train with rubber tyres in the Netherlands in 1932

c. 1965-1970, view of old fashioned Michelin omnibus and two michelin men with bystanders behind Charles Rolls statue, Monmouth, Wales.

In 1889 two brothers, Édouard Michelin and André Michelin, ran a rubber factory in Clermont-Ferrand, France. One day, a cyclist whose pneumatic tire needed repair turned up at the factory. The tire was glued to the rim, and it took over three hours to remove and repair the tire, which then needed to be left overnight to dry. The next day, Édouard Michelin took the repaired bicycle into the factory yard to test. After only a few hundred metres, the tire failed. Despite the setback, Édouard was enthusiastic about the pneumatic tire, and he and his brother worked on creating their own version, one that did not need to be glued to the rim. Michelin was incorporated on 28 May 1889. In 1891 Michelin took out its first patent for a removable pneumatic tire which was used by Charles Terront to win the world's first long distance cycle race, the 1891 Paris–Brest–Paris.

Michelin has made a number of innovations to tires, including in 1946 the radial tire (then known as the "X" tire).[5] It was developed with the front-wheel-drive Citroën Traction Avant and Citroën 2CV in mind. Michelin had bought the then-bankrupt Citroën in the 1930s. As of August 2008, this tire is still available for the 2CV. In 1934, Michelin introduced a tire which, if punctured, would run on a special foam lining; a design now known as a run-flat tire (self-supporting type).

In the 1920s and 1930s, Michelin operated large rubber plantations in Vietnam. Conditions at these plantations led to the famous labour movement Phu Rieng Do.[6]

" French Indochina – The French community of about 40000 lived in the European quarters, – for the mass of the population the reality was forced labour – working to produce the colony's exports of rice, tin, tea, and above all – rubber – the source of the fortune of the Michelin company." [7]

Michelin also controls 90% of Taurus Tire in Hungary, as well as Kormoran,[10] a Polish brand.

As of 1 September 2008, Michelin is again the world's largest tire manufacturer after spending two years as number two behind Bridgestone.[11] Michelin produces tires in France, Spain, Germany, the USA, the UK, Canada, Brazil, Thailand, Japan, Italy and several other countries. On 15 January 2010, Michelin[12] announced the closing of its Ota, Japan plant, which employs 380 workers and makes the Michelin X-Ice tire. Production of the X-Ice will be moved to Europe, North America, and elsewhere in Asia.[13]

Motorsport[edit]

MotoGP[edit]

Michelin participated in MotoGP from 1972 to 2008. They introduced radial construction to MotoGP in 1984, and multi-compound tires in 1994. They achieved 360 victories in 36 years, and from 1993 to 2006, the world championship had gone to a rider on Michelins.

In 2007, Casey Stoner on Bridgestone tires won the world championship in dominating fashion, and Valentino Rossi and other top riders complained that Michelins were inferior. Rossi wanted Bridgestones for the 2008 season, but Bridgestone was reluctant to provide them; Dorna threatened to impose a control tire on the series, after which Bridgestone relented.

In 2008, Michelin's tires continued to be perceived as being inferior to Bridgestone's[citation needed], and Michelin committed errors of judgment in allocating adequate tires for some of the race weekends. Dani Pedrosa's team switched to Bridgestones in the midst of the season, a highly unusual move that caused friction between Honda Racing Corporation and their sponsor Repsol YPF. Other riders also expressed concerns and it seemed that Michelin might not have any factory riders for the 2009 season, leading to rumours that Michelin would withdraw from the series altogether. Dorna and the FIM announced that a control tire would be imposed on MotoGP for the 2009 season and Michelin did not enter a bid, effectively ending its participation in the series at the end of 2008.[14][15][16][17] Michelin have confirmed their return to MotoGP as of the 2016 season as official tire supplier after Bridgestone's withdrawal from the series at the end of the 2015 season.

The company returned to Formula One in 2001, supplying the Williams, Jaguar, Benetton (renamed Renault in 2002), Prost and Minardi teams. Toyota joined F1 in 2002 with Michelin tires, and McLaren also signed up with the company. Michelin tires were initially uncompetitive but by the 2005 season were totally dominant. This was partly because the new regulations stated that tires must last the whole race distance (and qualifying), and partly because only one top team (Ferrari) was running Bridgestones, and so had to do much of the development work. Michelin in contrast had much more testing and race data provided by the larger number of teams running their tires.

Following the debacle of the 2005 United States Grand Prix where, because of safety concerns, Michelin would not allow the teams it supplies to race, Michelin's share price fell by 2.5% (though it recovered later the same day). On 28 June, Michelin announced that it would offer compensation to all race fans who had bought tickets for the Grand Prix. The company committed to refunding the price of all tickets for the race. Additionally, it announced that it would provide 20,000 complimentary tickets for the 2006 race to spectators who had attended the 2005 event.

Michelin has had a difficult relationship with the sport's governing body (the FIA) since around 2003, and this escalated to apparent disdain between the two parties during the 2005 season. The most high profile disagreement was at the United States Grand Prix and the acrimony afterwards. Michelin criticised the FIA's intention to move to a single source (i.e. one brand) tire from 2008, and threatened to withdraw from the sport. In a public rebuke FIA President Max Mosley wrote "There are simple arguments for a single tire, and if [Michelin boss Édouard Michelin] is not aware of this, he shows an almost comical lack of knowledge of modern Formula One". Another bone of contention has been the reintroduction of tire changes during pit-stops from 2006. Michelin criticised the move claiming "this event illustrates F1's problems of incoherent decision-making and lack of transparency."

In December 2005, and as a result of the difficult relationship with the sport's governing body, Michelin announced that it would not extend its involvement in Formula One beyond the 2006 season.[18]Bridgestone was then the sole supplier of tires to Formula One until the end of the 2010 season, with Pirelli providing tires for 2011.

Recent developments[edit]

Active Wheel[edit]

Active Wheel from Michelin includes in-wheel electric motors and a motorised suspension to free up space in the front or rear of the vehicle. This model also eliminates the need for other notorious space hogs like transmissions and exhaust systems. The wheels already have a vehicle ready to receive them, the Heuliez Will from Opel, and are also expected to come standard on the Venturi Volage sometime in 2012.[20]

Other products[edit]

Michellin map nr 4 (South Belgium) of 1940

Tire retailer[edit]

Tire retail in Europe with Euromaster and in the US with its wholly owned subsidiary TCI Tire Centers.[21]

Tour guides[edit]

Michelin has long published two guidebook series, the Red Guides to hotels and restaurants, and the Green Guides for tourism. It now publishes several additional guides, as well as digital map and guide products. The city maps in both the Red and the Green guides are of high quality, and are linked to the smaller-scale road maps.

Maps[edit]

Michelin publishes a variety of road maps, mostly of France but also of other European countries, Africa, Thailand and the United States. They have recently embarked in e-commerce selling Michelin maps and guides directly to the public through, for example, their UK website.[22] The Michelin roadmaps were reproduced in England for the Allied invasion during World War II. The Germans also reproduced in 1940 the 1938 edition Michelin maps for the invasion.[23]

Online mapping[edit]

ViaMichelin is a wholly owned subsidiary of Michelin Group, and was started in 2001, to represent Michelin's digital mapping services. As of August 2008, ViaMichelin generates 400 million maps and routes per month on its main website.[24]

ViaMichelin provides mapping and travel solutions for internet, mobile and satellite navigation products with street level coverage of Europe, USA, Australia, and parts of Asia and South America.